Agile Coaches' Corner

In this episode, Dan Neumann is joined by Scott Brinker! Scott is the VP of Platform Ecosystem at Hubspot, the author of the ChiefMartech blog, and the founding program chair of MarTech Conference.   In their conversation today, they explore some topics around approaches with shifting from product to platform, organizational change with distributed agility, and exploring the Flywheel Model at Hubspot. Scott also shares his tips and advice around alignment, distributed authority, and preventing backsliding!   Key Takeaways Hubspot’s shift from a product company to a platform company: Hubspot made the shift in order to move beyond just building within their own organization to being able to open up APIs and extensibilities that would allow other companies and developers to build on top of that foundation (in turn, shifting the value proposition to customers) Expanding from your own team(s)’ ability to innovate and experiment to empowering team(s) around the world to innovate and experiment They went from focusing on an end-user audience to requiring the product teams to look at another dimension of what they were creating The value in shifting from product to platform: The ability to adapt to change at scale is an invaluable skill This process helps pressure-test your ideas in a variety of different circumstances Tips for shifting from product to platform: You want a clear top-down strategy and a sense of where you’re going and why, but also the freedom to experiment and create You don’t want to have top-down handcuffs but you do want a strategy so people can align Experimentation is the pathway to greatness and the best way to have a great idea is to have a lot of ideas! It is ideal to have a blend of a formal/informal experimental framework Tips regarding alignment: If you’re going to have a product in the ecosystem, you want to make sure it adheres to some basic governance You want to make sure that the experience that customers have with anything in the ecosystem is good You can’t have governance that strangles the teams but you also don’t want a lack of governance that puts your organization at risk — finding balance is key How distributed authority works plus tips: Distributed authority refers to giving someone the authority to take something and run with it (in turn, creating a tremendous pace for innovation within an organization) To make this successful at scale, you need some scaffolding and governance increasingly over time so they are all tying back into a common foundation When it comes to the product to platform, each individual team needs to come to terms with it (almost like a retail approach to change management) Pro: Because you have these highly empowered teams, as soon as they “get it,” their ability to move very quickly and do amazing things is greatly increased Con: ’Tis not a one-shot thing; you have to invest the time and go team-by-team It may take longer than you think it will, but it leads to strong, genuine change that sticks Tips and advice around backsliding: Creating alignment between platform and ecosystem as a way to help your team(s) achieve their goals creates a strong bond Things diverge for good reason; usually, it is an indicator that that team needs to adapt or that something is not a good fit and needs to be changed What first might look like backsliding might actually be the discovery of finding a new path or possibility (so don’t quash things too early) What is the Flywheel Model? “The Flywheel is a model adapted by HubSpot to explain the momentum you gain when you align your entire organization around delivering a remarkable customer experience.” “With the flywheel, you use the momentum of your happy customers to drive referrals and repeat sales.” “Other models think of customers as an outcome — nothing more, nothing less.” The most successful companies address all three components of a flywheel: how fast it’s spun, how much friction there is, and how big it is (which determines customers’ attraction, engagement, and delight)   Mentioned in this Episode: Scott Brinker Hubspot ChiefMartech.com MarTech Conference The Flywheel Model | Hubspot Antifragile: Things That Gain from Disorder, by Nassim Nicholas Taleb   Want to Learn More or Get in Touch? Visit the website and catch up with all the episodes on AgileThought.com! Email your thoughts or suggestions to Podcast@AgileThought.com or Tweet @AgileThought using #AgileThoughtPodcast!

Joining the podcast today is Abiodun Osoba, the CEO and founder of The Agile Advisor Africa! Abiodun has over 20 years of experience in telecommunications, banking, retail, wholesale, technology, startups, and software industries, and over 16 years of experience working in Agile environments. She has provided executive Agile coaching in 10 countries; trained over 200 staff in Agile fundamentals, Scrum, and Kanban; and successfully led digital programs in six countries. Additionally, she is also on the Chair of the Board of Trustees of the Agile Practitioners Association of Nigeria, a founder of Globally Igniting Africa, a founder and speaker at the Agile Nigeria Meetup, founder of AGILE PLUS, Founder and CEO of The Agile Advisor Nigeria Limited, and Founder and coach at Agile for MEA.   Today, Abiodun and Dan are going to be exploring the role of the agile coach, specifically as it relates to the challenges of agile adoption and getting individuals in the community to really embrace agility in the agile framework. Abiodun shares about the challenges she has personally seen as an agile coach with organizations embracing the agile framework, her strategies and suggestions and mitigate said challenges, what she has done to help bring agility into organizations in Nigeria, and her advice in implementing agility in traditional organizations.   Key Takeaways Challenges that Abiodun is seeing as an agile coach with organizations embracing the agile framework Embracing agile values and principles can be difficult in places where the traditional culture is very strong One of the biggest challenges for an organization in driving its team towards embracing an agile culture lies with leadership If leadership is not able to make a decision quickly with regards to change (and instead, focusing on what they’re going to lose due to change rather than focusing on what they’re going to gain) Leadership may struggle with the dynamic shifting from “managing” to “collaboration,” and losing their positional authority Competitive storytelling Abiodun’s strategies and suggestion to mitigate these challenges: Openly talking about the everyday challenges you are facing (not as a professional, but as a person) into your network It is important that people know that you have empathy and that you are wearing similar shoes to their own If you communicate well, they will be more open to your advice and suggestions When the organization or teams trust you can cite similar challenges you have faced and they will be more open to trying the solutions you used in those Use stories and experiences to build empathy and connection What Abiodun has done to help bring agility into organizations in Nigeria: The Agile Nigeria Conference (hosted by the Agile Practitioners Association of Nigeria) has been a way for them to reach out to a lot of organizations and thought leaders to share about the agile framework Partnerships through this have helped people become certified, access to certain resources, membership discounts, etc. Through this, there has been an influx of involvement in the Nigerian agile community It has helped create a platform where lots of people can contribute to it which helps move the needle How do organizations respond to implementing an agile framework? And what are some of the tactics that Abiodun suggests for getting more traction with implementing changes in an organization? They generally respond in a very open way and know that change is important They also generally respond in an open-minded way to these changes What they’re doing as a community is having local people (project owners, scrum masters, etc.) to have open conversations about agility early next year With Abiodun’s company, they are compiling their own thoughts and reflections on the new Scrum Guide, packaging that info, and sharing it with their clients Spreading awareness and providing free education and resources can be helpful in gaining traction  Abiodun’s suggestions in implementing agility in a traditional organization: The approach should look more evolutionary rather than prescriptive Take advantage of what you already have and make some strides and efforts before you start implementing changes — especially in traditional organizations Providing a roadmap without it being step-by-step satisfies clients/organizations in letting them not feel left in the dark without being overly prescriptive   Mentioned in this Episode: Abiodun Osoba The Agile Advisor Africa Agile Practitioners Association of Nigeria AgileThought’s “Virtual Community: Agile Heard Around the World” (with Quincy Jordan, Abiodun Osoba, and other featured guests) Agile Nigeria Conference The Scrum Guide   Want to Learn More or Get in Touch? Visit the website and catch up with all the episodes on AgileThought.com! Email your thoughts or suggestions to Podcast@AgileThought.com or Tweet @AgileThought using #AgileThoughtPodcast!

This week, Dan Neumann is joined by Jim Ewel, the President and founder of AgileMarketing.net.   Jim has been involved with agile and marketing for over 10 years and is a leading proponent of using agile in the marketing space. He was one of the original co-authors of The Agile Marketing Manifesto as well as his recently published book, The Six Disciplines of Agile Marketing: Proven Practices for More Effective Marketing and Better Business Results. Additionally, he is also an agile marketing blogger, trainer, speaker, and angel investor.   In their conversation, Jim gives the lowdown on all things agile marketing. He shares how the world of agile marketing is both similar and dissimilar to agile for software developers, the key drivers that have led marketers to adopt agile (especially in the past year), the benefits for marketers adopting agile, and his coaching tips for getting started with coaching in the space of agile marketing!   Key Takeaways The key drivers that have led marketers to adopt agile: The pace of change (both with the pandemic and the shift to digital advertising, mobile devices, and technology tools) With this shift to technology, marketers are having to become technologists (and part of how you do that is through agile) The limited resources also have been moving marketers to agile with the increased demand The benefits for marketers in adopting agility: With the shift to digital, the opportunity for feedback is greatly accelerated in marketing to enable agility Digital tools allow marketers to be more precise about the outcomes of their marketing than ever before Agility creates a focus on outcomes rather than outputs which applies directly to marketing (because marketers want to make sure that they are continuously testing to improve business outcomes; not just simply putting out more content) The process creates predictability Understanding top-down decisions vs. decentralized decisions (knowing who gets to decide what, when, and with what information is really critical to moving fast) Utilizing intent-based leadership (i.e. giving people permission to make the decisions and they tell you their intent. As a manager, your responsibility is to provide real clarity about what a good decision looks like and make sure that people are competent in whatever it is that they’re making decisions about) Agile in marketing vs. agile in software: How marketers use user stories (which, in turn, impacts how they build and process their backlog as well) The agile marketing world uses the methodologies of Scrum, Kanban, and Scrumban Which one they use depends on what kind of marketing they’re doing Marketers are more likely to practice the informal kind of Scrumban rather than the formal kind (they typically adapt various practices to their various needs and company) Marketers are less likely to do canonical Scrum than developers are Jim’s coaching tips for getting started with coaching in the marketing agile space: If you’re looking to practice agile marketing, start with a certification Start with a marketing background before you become an agile marketing coach Read Jim’s book, The Six Disciplines of Agile Marketing Before you teach the process of agile, you need to get alignment on why the team you’re coaching is implementing agile marketing, what problems they’re trying to solve, what success looks like, and how they can measure success Structure is key for an agile marketing team Check out the resources tab on AgileMarketing.net   Mentioned in this Episode: Jim Ewel’s LinkedIn Jim Ewel’s Twitter The Agile Marketing Manifesto The Six Disciplines of Agile Marketing: Proven Practices for More Effective Marketing and Better Business Results, by Jim Ewel Turn the Ship Around!: A True Story of Turning Followers into Leaders, by David Marquet “The 7 Levels of Delegation,” by Jurgen Appelo SAFe ICAgile Hacking Marketing: Agile Practices to Make Marketing Smarter, Faster, and More Innovative, by Scott Brinker AgileMarketing.net Experiences: The 7th Era of Marketing, by Robert Rose and Carla Johnson Practical Kanban: From Team Focus to Creating Value, by Klaus Leopold   Want to Learn More or Get in Touch? Visit the website and catch up with all the episodes on AgileThought.com! Email your thoughts or suggestions to Podcast@AgileThought.com or Tweet @AgileThought using #AgileThoughtPodcast!

This week, Dan Neumann is excited to be joined by Ola Berg who is joining virtually all the way from Sweden! Ola is a Change Strategist and Agile Guide for Nimbletribe with a vision that every workplace should be a safe and exciting environment where people look after each other and are super productive — and not because he believes we should be superhumans, but because of the great procedures, collaborations, and culture we can achieve through agility.   In Dan and Ola’s conversation, they discuss Agile and the importance of connecting the “whole”; the mindset, the process, and the culture, in order to achieve true, “whole” agility. Dan shares his tips for agile coaches and guides alike on how to be more holistic in your approach to an agile transformation and the actionable steps you can take to get there.   Key Takeaways What does “connecting the whole” refer to in agility? It is more than just applying the Agile mindset, following the process, or focusing on culture; you need to consider all three together You need to consider and address all three (i.e. the “whole”): mindset, process, and culture for agile to be successful Ola’s advice in approaching an agile transformation as a whole: Creating a bubble of a common culture where the agile values are prevalent is a crucial element to creating harmony between the process, culture, and the structure Insulate the change from the rest of the organization so that it does not get killed off The change always needs to be contained (if it is not it will spread too fast and will break things) You need to introduce instability to the organization but not all at once (otherwise it will collapse) You need to have elements in the change that are accepted by everyone You need to be a team player and collaborate Change needs to occur within but also in the API Early on, create a map so that you can get situational awareness of what’s going on (from the process of how people are working, the culture, and the structure) “Ultimately, it’s not my job or your job as an agile coach to change things. The only ones who can change things are the people doing the work. So our job must be very much directed towards creating awareness.” — Ola Berg An agile coach or guide must work as if they could be removed at any time; It is crucial that they make sure the team has the same awareness of the environment as themselves The goal as a guide is to instill awareness in all three of these topics: the culture, the processes, and the structure, at the same time Ultimately, the goal is that the team/s will be able to do this themselves as well as the organization’s collective ability and maturity The goal is a mature, self-directed team (but in order to get there it is important to be prepared as an agile coach to be able to play a more “parental” role to one of an advisor) Dump any preconceived notions of what it means to be an agile coach when entering a new organization and instead look at the current situation (i.e. “How do I need to act now in this situation?”, “How mature are the teams?”, etc.) Provide plenty of encouragement at the beginning and present more challenges as the team matures If you’re ever unsure as an agile coach you can directly ask your team (i.e. “Do you want me to be more prescriptive or do you want me to guide you through an exploration process?”) Take small steps first before taking a big leap so you can get a growing understanding of what the big leap/s you need to take is/are   Mentioned in this Episode: Ola Berg’s LinkedIn Nimbletribe   Want to Learn More or Get in Touch? Visit the website and catch up with all the episodes on AgileThought.com! Email your thoughts or suggestions to Podcast@AgileThought.com or Tweet @AgileThought using #AgileThoughtPodcast!  

Dan Neumann is joined by Senior Agile Coach at AgileThought, Adam Ulery, to discuss the concept of Agile forcing continuous improvement.   Does agile “force” continuous improvement? What does this mean? Is this inherently negative or positive? How does agile implement continuous improvement as a natural consequence? Dan and Adam address these questions and share their tips on how to leverage agile to maximize your continuous improvement in all levels of your organization!   Key Takeaways What does “Agile forcing continuous improvement” mean? Agile “forces” continuous improvement because continuous improvement is inherently baked into agility “Force,” not as coercion, but as a natural outcome of adopting an agile mindset The frequent use of feedback loops is built into the way you work in an agile environment, “forcing” continuous improvement How Agile implements continuous improvement as a natural consequence: Regardless of the framework, there is a feedback loop with the goal being to deliver as much value as possible to the end consumer Inspecting and adapting the product and the process at regular intervals Agile encourages and fosters teams to be able to talk about things transparently and openly and not see impediments as an indictment of their performance Through failing fast (i.e. learning fast through your failures or mistakes) the team will continue to improve Tips for leveraging Agile’s continuous improvement: Address the fear of speaking up by teaching leadership roles on how to make the environment safe for the delivery teams Acknowledge that the environment may have not been safe in the past but that changes are being implemented and it will be different going forward The shorter the feedback loop, the shorter the risk (so if something doesn’t go right, you’re not that far from recovery) Deliver early and often, get the feedback loops working so that teams can course-correct as they learn It’s important to get to a point where it is understood that quick learning is what the team and leadership is looking for (and that failure is not failure; it’s learning) Leadership needs to be supportive of the mindset shift regarding quick learning/failing fast so that the team can feel encouraged in exhibiting these behaviors If you are a leader who wants to begin to make their team more comfortable with quick learning you need to educate yourself, believe it, communicate with your team, be transparent that you’re still learning and growing, set your expectations about what you’d like to see, and call out real examples as they happen so that the team can begin to recognize it As a leader, display vulnerability and acknowledge that you have not done the best with communicating in the past but that it will be different, going forward  Model the behaviors you want to see as a leader You need to create safety and support your team in order to thrive and increase performance   Mentioned in this Episode: Leaders Eat Last: Why Some Teams Pull Together and Others Don't, by Simon Sinek Radical Focus: Achieving Your Most Important Goals with Objectives and Key Results, by Christina R. Wodtke Measure What Matters: How Google, Bono, and the Gates Foundation Rock the World with OKRs, by John Doerr   Want to Learn More or Get in Touch? Visit the website and catch up with all the episodes on AgileThought.com! Email your thoughts or suggestions to Podcast@AgileThought.com or Tweet @AgileThought using #AgileThoughtPodcast!

In this episode, Dan and Sam are exploring the topic of evidence-based management, which was first mentioned in Episode 101, “Are Scrum Masters Expendable?” In that conversation, they discussed some of the things that Scrum Masters could be doing beyond the team and one of them is in helping manage the product suite.   Dan and Sam unpack the concept of evidence-based management and share how this model can be used alongside Scrum to help people and organizations improve the way they deliver products and improve the value of their products.   This episode is rather timely too, with the newest edition of the Evidence-Based Management Guide just being released on Scrum.org! If you’re new to EBM (or didn’t fully understand it before) there is no better time than the present to learn about it.   Key Takeaways What is evidence-based management? It’s an empirical approach to help organizations EBM provides a framework to get a better feel for what is valuable so you can base the decisions you make on actual data (rather than gut-feeling) and run experiments that improve metrics Through intentional experimentation and evidence, EBM enables organizations to systematically improve their performance over time and refine their goals based on better information The EBM model: It has five key elements: A Strategic Goal — something important that the organization would like to achieve; this goal is big and far away with many uncertainties (similar to a product goal) — because of this, the organization needs a series of practical targets, like: Intermediate Goals — achievements which indicate that the organization is on the path to its Strategic Goal (the path to the Intermediate Goal is often somewhat uncertain but not completely unknown) (kind of like a release goal) Immediate Tactical Goals — critical near-term objective toward which a team or group of teams will work help toward Intermediate Goals (similar to a sprint goal) A Starting State — where the organization is relative to the Strategic Goal when it starts its journey A Current State — Where the organization is relative to the Strategic Goal at the present time EBM focuses on four Key Value Areas (KVAs): These areas examine the goals of the organization As an organization, you want to measure and evaluate these Current Value (CV) – the current value that the product is delivering today The purpose of looking at CV is to understand the value that the organization is delivering to customers and stakeholders at the present time Organizations need to be continually re-evaluating and looking at customer/user happiness, employee happiness, and investor and stakeholder happiness CV helps the organization understand the value that their customers or users are experiencing today Unrealized Value (UV) — additional/potential value the product could realize if it was pursued UV could be features that the organization hasn’t considered developed yet (but could) or markets that the product could serve (but doesn’t currently) The organization should be thinking about: “Can we get any additional value out of this product?” and whether or not it’s worth it Comparing UV and CV can help an organization decide whether or not they should continue investing in a product Time to Market (T2M) — how long it takes the organization to deliver new value The reason for looking at T2M is to minimize the amount of time it takes for the organization to deliver value (without it, the ability to sustainably deliver value in the future is unknown) Ask: “Are we spending too much time estimating?” Questions the organization needs to continually re-evaluate for T2M are: “How fast can the organization learn from new experiments and information?”, “How fast can you adapt, based on the information?”, and “How fast can you test new ideas with customers?” Ability to Innovate (A2I) — the effectiveness of the organization at delivering value The goal of A2I is to maximize the organization’s ability to deliver new features and capabilities that customers will find valuable When evaluating A2I, an organization should be asking: “What is preventing us from delivering new value?” and “What prevents customers from benefiting from the innovation?” Having a hypothesis and executing an experiment: A hypothesis is a proposed explanation for some observation that has not yet been proven or disproven After forming a hypothesis, run the experiments, and then inspect the results Was the hypothesis proven or disproved? Once you have this data you can evaluate it and make adjustments as needed “Explicitly forming hypotheses, measuring results, and inspecting and adapting goals based on those results are implicit parts of an agile approach. Making this work explicit and transparent is what EBM adds to the organizational improvement process.” — EBM Guide   Mentioned in this Episode: Evidence-Based Management Guide | Scrum.org Agile Coaches’ Corner Ep. 101: “Are Scrum Masters Expendable?” Agile Coaches’ Corner Ep. 78: “Exploring OKRs with Felipe Castro” Three Horizons Framework The Anarchy: The East India Company, Corporate Violence, and the Pillage of an Empire, by William Dalrymple The Creative Habit: Learn It and Use It for Life, by Twyla Tharp Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis, by J.D. Vance   Want to Learn More or Get in Touch? Visit the website and catch up with all the episodes on AgileThought.com! Email your thoughts or suggestions to Podcast@AgileThought.com or Tweet @AgileThought using #AgileThoughtPodcast!

Today marks an exciting day; the new Scrum Guide was released just this last Wednesday and marks some big, notable changes! The release of the new guide also marks Scrum turning 25 years old!   Join Dan Neumann and Sam Falco in this episode as they discuss all of the changes from the previous 2017 to the new 2020 guide; share their thoughts and key takeaways; and provide further insight on what some of these changes could mean for Scrum, Scrum teams, and Scrum Masters going forward.   Key Takeaways Notable changes to the new 2020 Scrum Guide: From 17 pages to 13 pages Clarification on the daily Scrum; why you have it and what its purpose is The statement about the immutability of Scrum went from being an endnote to being placed front and center They’ve taken out all IT-specific language; the 2020 Scrum Guide is explicitly reaching out to an audience beyond IT and software development “Developer” no longer means “coder”; it applies to anyone developing a solution (if you are developing a product, you are a developer) The new language used in the guide will make it easier to teach and apply to a broader audience (such as marketing campaigns, artistic endeavors, etc.) Doing away with two levels of teams (no more Scrum team which has a development team); it’s just a Scrum team now All roles are within the Scrum team (i.e. the Scrum team is responsible for all product-related activities) In the 2017 version, it spoke about potentially releasable increments but in the 2020 version, it says the increment must be useable A greater emphasis on the fact that the Scrum Master is accountable for the Scrum team’s effectiveness by enabling the Scrum team to improve its practices within the Scrum framework Clarification around one of the ways that the Scrum Master serves the team: “by causing the removal of impediments” (vs. “removing impediments” in the 2017 vers.) From “self-organizing team” to “self-managing team” Commitment has taken on a greater significance: each of the three artifacts now comes with an associated commitment  Before, the commitment on the Scrum team was to the sprint goal; now, the product backlog has its own commitment (the product goal), the sprint backlog retains the sprint goal as a commitment, and the increments commitment is the definition of done This change emphasizes the importance of a long-term vision and eliminates the previous criticism that Scrum is just about going sprint-to-sprint Closing thoughts: Scrum itself inspects and adapts Jeff and Ken are hearing and listening to what people are saying about the Scrum Guide and are striving to help people understand it better It continues to evolve at a good rate Be sure to go read it through start-to-finish!   Mentioned in this Episode: The 2020 Scrum Guide Launch Event Ken Schwaber’s 2020 Scrum Guide Teaser Blog Post   Want to Learn More or Get in Touch? Visit the website and catch up with all the episodes on AgileThought.com! Email your thoughts or suggestions to Podcast@AgileThought.com or Tweet @AgileThought using #AgileThoughtPodcast!

Dan Neumann is joined once again by Quincy Jordan; Principal Transformation Consultant at AgileThought! Today, they’re exploring the concept of losing control to gain value.   Though the concept of “losing control” may sound a bit frightening, it is actually the most invaluable thing you can do as a leader of a team! Oftentimes, there are habits of control that can greatly impact a team’s ability to self-organize, mature, and deliver value. With less control, the team is able to produce better value.   In this episode, Quincy outlines the many interesting facets of losing control to gain value. He shares what this loss of control is, why losing control is key to gaining value, what you can do as a leader to let go of control and support your team in creating value, and much more!   Key Takeaways Why is it important to lose control to gain value? If you’re wanting to gain/produce value, you can run into roadblocks if you have a desire or habit of control Oftentimes, leaders and senior leaders (especially managers, tech leads, etc.), primarily in the context of Scrum, struggle with a habit of control which can block them from achieving their desired result of more value There are many habits of control that can impact the team’s ability to self-organize and deliver value The leader can become accustomed to controlling the team’s narrative, leading the team to build mechanical habits (which doesn’t encourage self-organization, free-thinking, or experimentation) Leaders are often inundated with fear that if they allow the team to self-organize they’ll make the wrong decisions or won’t produce as much (but this needs to happen in order for the team to mature properly) When people want to direct and control what the team does (i.e. how they figure things out) they are hindering them from producing better results or better value (your team is full of smart people that can figure things out!) If the team only knows the objective and they don’t understand the “why,” there is the potential that they’ll begin to do stuff mechanically (because it cripples them from making decisions in line with what the expectations are) If you are directing your team’s day-to-day activities, you’re actually limiting/capping what they’re capable of Exerting control of their activities makes you become the bottleneck Why can a loss of control lead to more value? Shifting the focus from trying to control what people are doing to instead trying to understand what they’re intending to do allows the team to mature By removing yourself as the bottleneck of your team you’re allowing them to have room to grow and mature Tips for leadership in letting go of control to support the team in creating value: As a leader, it is important to not only understand the approach that’s being taken and where the parameters are/where the boundaries lie, but also that the team has the ability to self-organize and to figure out the best way to accomplish what is going to produce the most value Your team just needs to know what the objective is that they’re trying to achieve (any more control is a hindrance) It is critically important for teams to understand the “why” behind what the objective is (if they do, 9/10 times they’ll produce the best results and the best value that they’re capable of!) Instead of controlling or directing the workflow, leaders should be focusing on improving the environment in which people work, closing skill gaps, and removing organizational impediments As a supervisor or tech lead, you should serve as a mentor or be there as a  resource for the team (i.e. a go-to point for team members if they get stuck or need some direction on finding resources that will help them do their work) It’s important to be there as a support but not a person to direct day-to-day activities as a leader Leaders at a program, VP, or portfolio level need to make sure that they’re supportive of an agile ecosystem In David Marquet’s Turn the Ship Around!, he talks about intent-based leadership (where the team comes to leaders, not with a request for direction, but instead with a: “I intend to do x, y or x,” which gives the leader a chance to inquire if appropriate. Eventually, this leads to less checking as the team demonstrates competency and consistency of delivery) Pivoting to intent-based leadership is only possible if the leader makes it clear what the outcome is that they’re expecting How to balance giving your team room to grow with safety measures: In taking a Scrum approach, there are many benefits (because the framework gives solid boundaries that allow for a good balance of self-organization and accountability) Accountability to one another (and themselves) is created by having daily Scrums The sprint review adds balance because nobody is going months at a time without feedback There is a regimen within the flexibility that the Scrum framework provides   Mentioned in this Episode: Quincy Jordan Agile Coaches’ Corner Ep. 101: “Are Scrum Masters Expendable?” Turn the Ship Around!: A True Story of Turning Followers into Leaders, by David Marquet   Want to Learn More or Get in Touch? Visit the website and catch up with all the episodes on AgileThought.com! Email your thoughts or suggestions to Podcast@AgileThought.com or Tweet @AgileThought using #AgileThoughtPodcast!

In celebration of the two-year anniversary of the podcast, Dan Neumann is joined by Sam Falco, co-founder of the Agile Coaches’ Corner podcast. In the theme of continuous improvement, Dan and Sam take a look back on the last two years of the podcast and reflect on all that they’ve learned about podcasting and agility. They also invite on some of their favorite past guests and AgileThought colleagues to share their own biggest takeaways and lessons learned from the past two years on the theme of agility. Andrea Floyd, Agile Transformation Consultant; Adam Ulery, Senior Agile Coach; Quincy Jordan, Principal Transformation Consultant; Steven Granese, Managing Director of the Transform Practice; and Michael Guiler, Agile Consultant.   Key Takeaways Andrea Floyd Key lesson: the importance of the Agile mindset and an Agile culture coupled with any Agile journey “What does it mean for us to be successful?” “What will that take from a mindset and culture perspective?” — Andrea Floyd Tools and techniques: exercises around value stream mapping, understanding what value means to your customers and users, design-thinking techniques around customer journey mapping, good leadership, and commitment from the whole organization Adam Ulery Key lesson: the importance of having committed top-level leaders in an Agile transformation The buy-in of leadership in a transformation is key (it makes the difference in creating real change or giving up) Drawbacks that occur without leadership buy-in: change will only occur in small pockets at best, more than likely it will flounder and never transform the people and the way they work Tools and techniques: in order for leaders to transform themselves they must be committed and willing, step out of their comfort zone, push through fears, and commit to change In summary: it is important to have top-level leaders that are committed to the transformation and are committed to change Quincy Jordan Key lesson: Agile is Agile (it has transformed, evolved, and adapted over the years) It used to be considered strictly for software development but has now been taken outside of IT; into HR, marketing, etc. The overall thinking has made a big splash in non-IT environments A challenge with agility being adopted into non-IT environments: sometimes business and leadership have a misconception that agility is only IT so they believe it is not relevant to them When agility ripples outside of IT, it can be really powerful Michael Guiler Key lesson: that the business side has really begun to take hold of agility What has caused the shift from technology-driven agility to business-driven agility: the entire world has fundamentally begun to understand that agility is key (i.e. “We can’t just have really detail-oriented plans with a command and control structure and be able to compete in today’s world” — Michael Guiler) Now, business wants to build an environment where they can really pivot on a dime and compete — and agility is the way to do that Steven Granese Key lesson: it is very difficult to define what agility is — especially with large organizations There are a lot of different ideas and definitions about what agility is It can be hard to define what problem the client is trying to solve and why agility would help them How Steven has seen the problems that clients are trying to solve change over the years: 1) From a focus on speed (the speed with which they need to continuously adapt) to a focus on market changes (it’s the organizations that focus on market demands that are the ones having the most success) 2) There used to be more of a concern about leaning too much on tooling and automation but now it has become so good and there is so much more that is possible now due to the tools that are available Sam Falco Key lesson: Agility spreads beyond IT — even to a personal level  “Even on a personal level, I have taken a lot of the principles and ideas — and even the practices of Scrum — into my own personal life. I use Scrum on a weekly basis; I do one-week sprints for myself.” — Sam Falco Sam has lowered his personal work-in-progress limit from three to two and his throughput shot way up He’s learned how to apply agility in all sorts of situations Dan Neumann Key lesson: the power of collaboration (specifically, the value of collaborating with people) You can riff off each other if a client isn’t quite hearing what one of you is trying to say Diversity of perspective is tremendously valuable (just like on any well-functioning team)   Mentioned in this Episode: Steven Granese Andrea Floyd Adam Ulery Quincy Jordan Michael Guiler The Age of Agile: How Smart Companies Are Transforming the Way Work Gets Done, by Stephen Denning Eric Landes   Want to Learn More or Get in Touch? Visit the website and catch up with all the episodes on AgileThought.com! Email your thoughts or suggestions to Podcast@AgileThought.com or Tweet @AgileThought using #AgileThoughtPodcast!

In this episode, Dan Neumann is joined by a frequent guest of his and AgileThought colleague, Quincy Jordan! Quincy is a Principal Transformation Consultant and has been with AgileThought for almost three years.   Together, they will be exploring when things are going so well that you just don’t notice that there are problems bubbling beneath the surface. They address what kind of problems show up when teams become complacent due to things going so well, how to spot these problems (and address them) before they start, and how to differentiate between when things are going “so well that you don’t notice” and actually being on the right path.   Key Takeaways The problems that arise when things are going so well that you don’t notice that they’re not: When a Scrum Master is doing super well in their role, those outside the team or the leaders in the organization begin to question if they really need the role However, if you remove that Scrum Master when the team is doing great and maturing well, things will continue in a downwards trajectory (the same way a car does when a tire goes flat) It’s the classic scenario of “you’ve done your job too well” and others don’t realize how valuable and important that is Sometimes the role of Scrum Master role is switched up or rotated in a way that doesn’t fully fill it and the wheels eventually fall off When things are going well those who suffer from a hero complex lose the opportunity to be the hero anymore —  this can lead to situations such as: When developers have an abnormal tolerance for tech debt (i.e. they are not paying as much attention to the quality of code or adhering to standards that are good for the team, which creates an abnormal amount of bugs that the team has to fix. Then, said developer jumps in as the hero) I.e. Firefighters lighting fires to put them out When things are going well there can be a tendency to start to question roles and processes (such as the Scrum Master role and the processes and organizational support that are in place to support the team/s) When things are questioned, it can affect not only the team/s, but it also affects the organization as a whole Both the team/s and the organization can become complacent if things are working so well How to avoid getting trapped in this way of thinking: Leadership should be constantly assessing whether or not they’re providing the right types of problems to solve The team should be asking themselves if they’re looking at the right problems to solve Is the team properly considering Horizons Two and Three if they are beginning to go down the path of the Three Horizons model? Shift from “How much faster can the teams go?” and “How much more stuff can they deliver?” to “Are we delivering the right capabilities?”, “Are we delivering things customers want?”, and “Are we continuing to experiment and innovate?” The wrong question is: “Can we get even more out of this team?” The right question is: “Can we make sure that we’re providing them with the right problems to solve?”; “Where can we, from a leadership standpoint, give more guidance to increase business value?” How to differentiate between a mature and a complacent team: Though they can sometimes look the same on the surface, a very complacent team will have far more carry-over stories than a mature team Ask: ‘How well has this team challenged themselves in terms of their own velocity?’ and ‘Are they taking it upon themselves?’ A more mature team would exhibit these types of these behaviors as opposed to a complacent team A more mature team makes time for continuous improvement and retrospectives whereas complacent teams make them cut them out or make them shorter Mature teams dig deep and find opportunities to improve Mature teams look below the surface and think more critically   Mentioned in this Episode: Quincy Jordan AgileThought Careers Agile Coaches’ Corner Ep. 101: “Are Scrum Masters Expendable?” Three Horizons by McKinsey & Company Measure What Matters: How Google, Bono, and the Gates Foundation Rock the World with OKRs, by John Doerr   Want to Learn More or Get in Touch? Visit the website and catch up with all the episodes on AgileThought.com! Email your thoughts or suggestions to Podcast@AgileThought.com or Tweet @AgileThought using #AgileThoughtPodcast!